1. Field
The disclosure relates to a method, apparatus and system for optimized indoor position estimation. Specifically, the disclosure relates to indoor position estimation by considering the probability that an access point may be an outlier.
2. Description of Related Art
Outdoor navigation is widely deployed due to advancement in various global positioning systems (GPS). Recently, there has been an increased focus on indoor navigation and position location. Indoor navigation differs from the navigation because the indoor environment precludes receiving GPS satellite signals. As a result, effort is now directed to solving the indoor navigation problem. This problem does not have a scalable solution with satisfactory precision.
A solution to this problem may be based on the Time-of-Flight (ToF) method. ToF is defined as the overall time a signal propagates from the user to an access point (AP) and back to the user. This value can be converted into distance by dividing the signal's roundtrip travel time by two and multiplying it by the speed of light. This method is robust and scalable but requires significant hardware changes to the Wi-Fi modem and other devices. The ToF range calculation depends on determining the precise signal receive/transmit times. As little as 3 nanoseconds of discrepancy will result in about 1 meter of range error. Conventional ToF range measurements also require significant processing bandwidth.